from the light-colored _longicauda_ type of coloration to the darker
coloration characterizing _oribasus_. One taken here, at a time when
the body of water referred to seems to have been known as Chief
Mountain Lake, is barely dark enough to be placed with _oribasus_. Two
other specimens from across the Canadian Border labeled as "Waterton
Lake Park" are slightly lighter colored above, and on this account are
placed with _longicauda_.
The two adult males from Lillooet, British Columbia, are referable to
_oribasus_ although neither is quite typical. One has a saturated
coloration suggestive of that of _altifrontalis_ and the skull is
shorter and broader than in other specimens of _oribasus_. The female
from Lillooet, skin alone, no. 916, Prov. Mus., B. C. is small for
_oribasus_. The female, no. 1539, collection of Kenneth Racey, from
Alta Lake, in brown winter pelage, in almost every measurement falls
nearly midway between _altifrontalis_ and _oribasus_ but slightly
nearer the latter. The skull from Chezacut and 3 animals from Wistaria,
British Columbia, probably are females and show a greater average size
than specimens from farther to the southeast. For example, the basilar
length of the skull, 44.8 (44.3 to 45.1), exceeds that of the type
specimen. The animals from Wistaria on Ootsa Lake furnish the
northwesternmost station of occurrence of which I have record for this
subspecies.
The northernmost records of occurrence, at "Clearwater River, Peace
River, B. C," and at Little Prairie, are furnished by a white skin
without skull, no. 257450, U. S. Nat. Mus., purchased on August 2,
1932, at the place mentioned by W. H. Sheldon and Richard Borden, and a
skull with white winter skin, no. 3585, Provincial Museum, British
Columbia, respectively. The characters distinguishing _longicauda_ and
_oribasus_ are not shown by white winter skins; the skull shows some
features of _longicauda_, and the reference of these specimens to
_oribasus_ rather than _longicauda_ is tentative.
Only the skull from Little Prairie shows evidence of infestation of the
frontal sinuses by parasites. In the Barkerville area of British
Columbia, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas T. McCabe obtained only 2 skulls of this
subspecies from a total of 238 weasel skulls gathered by local
trappers. The others were _Mustela erminea_.
_Specimens examined._--Total number, 46, listed by localities from
north to south and unless otherwise indicated, in the United
States National Museum.
=British Columbia.= West of Hudson Hope, 1[7]; Clearwater River,
tributary to Peace River, 1; Little Prairie, a few miles south of
Peace River and about 40 miles west of the main highway between
Dawson Creek and Fort St. John, 1[85]; Wistaria, 3[85]; Four Mile
Creek, 4 mi. NE Quesnel, 1[21]; Isaacs Lake, 3200 ft., 1[74];
Barkerville region, 1[74]; Clear River, 4800 ft., 1[74]; Chezacut,
1[31]; Lillooet 3 (2[77], 1[85]); Alta Lake, 1[31]; source of
Kettle River, 7500 ft., 1[75]; E side Beaverfoot Range, 4000 to
4500 ft. between Fraser Creek and 6 mi. SE of Fraser Creek, 1[74];
Cranbrook, 1[86]; head of Cross River, 10 mi. below Assiniboine
Pass, 1[7]; camp east of "Kootanie," 1[7]; camp east of Kootanie
River, 1[7].
=Alberta.= Thoral Creek, 7000 ft., 50 mi. NE Jasper, 1[2].
=Montana.= _Glacier? County_: Chief Mt. Lake (= Waterton Lake), 1.
_Flathead County_: Columbia Falls, 1. _Chouteau? County_: Highwood
Mts., 1. _Fergus? County_: Big Snowy Mts., 1. _Wheatland County_:
Harlowton, 1[74]. _Ravalli County_: Florence, 2; Hamilton, 1[56];
Darby, 1[56]; Carlos [= Charlos] Heights, 2[74]; Tin Cup District,
2[74]; no locality more definite than county, 2[74]. _Beaverhead
County_: Donovan, 1. _Madison County_: Sheridan, 1[74]. _Gallatin
County_: Ranch 7-11, Eldridge, 1[60]. _Stillwater County_: Tacy,
2[76]. _County_ in question: Gallatin Valley, 1; Yellowstone Park,
1[75].
=Wyoming.= Glen Creek, Mammoth Hot Springs, 1. _Park County_: Four
Bears, 1[2].
=Mustela frenata alleni= (Merriam)
Long-tailed Weasel
Plates 18, 19, 20, 31, 32 and 33
_Putorius alleni_ Merriam, N. Amer. Fauna, 11:24, June 30, 1896.
_Mustela alleni_, Miller, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull., 79:99, December
31, 1912.
_Mustela frenata alleni_, Hall, Carnegie Instit. Washington Publ.
473:106, November 20, 1936.
_Type._--Male, adult, skull and skin; no. 186451, U. S. Nat. Mus.
(formerly 4485/5120, collection of Dr. C. Hart Merriam); Custer,
South Dakota; obtained by Vernon Bailey; original no. 90.
The skull is complete and unbroken. The upper incisors are
missing. All the other teeth are present although the premolars,
and especially the canines, are much worn, possibly as the result
of the animal's efforts to free itself from a trap. The skin is
fairly well made, in a good state of preservation, and entire.
_Range._--Canadian, Transition and Upper Sonoran life-zones of the
Black Hills of South Dakota and adjacent semi-bad-land territory
of Wyoming and Nebraska southward to Mitchell, Scottsbluff County.
See figure 29 on page 221.
_Characters for ready recognition._--Differs from _M. f.
longicauda_ in smaller size, adult males having a total length of
less than 400, hind foot less than 45, basilar length less than
43.5, and in adult females total length less than 375, and basilar
length less than 40; from _M. f. nevadensis_ in near Clay Color
rather than near (14 _n_ to _l_) Brussels Brown of upper parts in
summer.
_Description._--_Size._--Male: External measurements of the type
specimen are: Total length, 372; length of tail, 137; length of
hind foot, 44. Tail is 58 per cent as long as head and body.
Length of hind foot more than basal length.
Female: No external measurements for typical adults are available.
No. M1 #41 from Mitchell, Scottsbluff Co., Nebraska, an adult
female which is an intergrade with the larger _M. f. longicauda_,
measures as follows: Total length, 367; length of tail, 120;
length of hind foot, 41.
_Externals._--Longest facial vibrissae dark brown or white and
extending beyond ear; carpal vibrissae same color as underparts
and extending to apical pad of fifth digit; hairiness of
foot-soles (in summer pelage) as shown in figure 20.
_Color._--Winter pelage unknown; probably white except, of course,
tip of tail. Summer pelage as described in _Mustela frenata
longicauda_ except that: Least width of color of underparts
averaging, in 3 males from Black Hills, 54 (38-62) per cent of
greatest width of color of upper parts. Black tip of tail
averaging 43 (40-45) mm. long. Thus, averaging approximately same
length as hind foot and in type specimen amounting to 33 per cent
of length of tail-vertebrae.
_Skull and teeth._--Male (based on the type and no. 7440 Amer.
Mus. Nat. Hist., from Hill City, S. Dak.): See measurements and
plates 18-20. As described in _Mustela frenata longicauda_ except
that: Weight, 3.1 (3.0-3.2) grams; basilar length, 41.0
(40.9-41.0); mastoid breadth not less than postpalatal length;
breadth of rostrum more than length of P4; anterior margin of
tympanic bulla as far posterior to foramen ovale as width of 4 to
5 upper incisors; height of tympanic bulla more or less than
distance from its anterior margin to foramen ovale.
Female (based on no. 7441, American Mus. Nat. Hist., from Black
Hills, S. Dak.): See measurements and plates 31-33. As described
in _Mustela frenata longicauda_ except that: Weight, 2.0 grams;
basilar length 37.6. The skull of the female is 35 per cent
lighter than the average for the two males.
Comparison with _M. f. longicauda_ and _M. f. nevadensis_ reveals
that the tympanic bullae average more nearly flat and that the
skull is smaller.
_Remarks._--Animals of this subspecies were described and named by
Merriam in 1896 as a distinct species on the basis of two or possibly
three specimens from the Black Hills of South Dakota and the name seems
never to have been applied to specimens from other regions. Vernon
Bailey obtained only the one specimen, the type, on his trip in 1888,
but two more were obtained for the American Museum of Natural History
by Walter Granger in 1894.
_Mustela frenata alleni_ combines the light coloration of _M. f.
longicauda_ with the small size of _M. f. nevadensis_. Indeed, the size
may average less than that of _nevadensis_. _M. f. alleni_ seems to
reach its extreme of small size in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
Specimens from Mitchell, Scottsbluff County, Nebraska, here referred
to alleni are of larger size and in this respect are intermediate
between the subspecies _alleni_ and _longicauda_. Of the two specimens
available from Chadron, Nebraska, and here referred to as _longicauda_,
the female, M1 #6, is almost exactly intermediate in size between
_alleni_ and _longicauda_, whereas the male, Ml #11, is as large as the
average-sized _longicauda_.
None of the nine skulls (5 adults) shows malformation resulting from
the infestation of the frontal sinuses with parasites.
_Specimens examined._--Total number, 10, as follows.
=Wyoming.= _Crook County_: Sundance, 1[91].
=South Dakota.= _Pennington County_: Hill City, 1[2]; 20 mi. N Elk
Mt, 1[91]. _County_ in question: Black Hills, 1[2]. _Custer
County_: Custer, 2 (1[91], 1[2]).
=Nebraska.= _Scottsbluff County_: Mitchell, 4[35].
=Mustela frenata arizonensis= (Mearns)
Long-tailed Weasel
Plates 19, 20, 21, 31, 32 and 33
_Putorius arizonensis_ Mearns, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 3:234,
June, 1891; Merriam, N. Amer. Fauna, 11:22, fig. 12, June 30,
1896.
_Mustela arizonensis_, Miller, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull., 79:99,
December 31, 1912.
_Mustela frenata arizonensis_, Hall, Carnegie Instit. Washington
Publ. 473:106, November 20, 1936.
_Type._--Female, adult, skull and skin; no. 2490/1886, Amer. Mus.
Nat. Hist.; San Francisco Forest [then (1886?), Yavapai County],
Arizona; June 20, 1886; obtained by Edgar A. Mearns.
The skull (plates 31-33) is complete and unbroken save for a small
puncture in the right squamosal. The incisors above and below and
M^2 and P^2 on each side are missing. Four canines are preserved
separately. Otherwise the teeth are in place. The skin has been
taken down from a mount. Some hair has been lost from in front of
the ears. Seven mammae are evident and show the animal to have
been nursing young. The slightly faded color was mentioned by
Mearns in the original description. He says (1891:234): "The
memorandum of the colors was made before skinning, the specimen
having been subsequently preserved in a solution of alum and salt,
which extracted much of the coloring matter."
_Range._--Transition to Hudsonian life-zones of Arizona and
extreme western New Mexico, along the Colorado River, and south of
the Little Colorado River, from San Francisco Mountain region
along Mogollon Plateau to extreme western New Mexico. See figure
29 on page 221.
_Characters for ready recognition._--Differs from _M. f.
neomexicana_ by near (14 _n_) Brussels Brown rather than Buckthorn
Brown color of upper parts, in absence rather than presence of
white frontal spot continuous with color of underparts, in basilar
length of less than 44 in males and 39.3 in females; from _M. f.
nevadensis_ in that total length averages less than 375 in males
and 330 in females, basilar length averaging less than 41 in males
and less than 36.7 in females.
_Description._--_Size._--Male: No. 24679/32071, from
Springerville, and no. 248993 from the Kaibab Plateau, measure
respectively, as follows: Total length, 363, 367; length of tail,
140, 143; length of hind foot, 41.5, 41.0. Tail is 63, and 64 per
cent as long as head and body. These males, the only specimens of
that sex of which external measurements are available, probably
are grading toward _nevadensis_ and therefore are nontypical.
Female: Three specimens, one young from Little Spring, a subadult
from Deadmans Flat and the type specimen, measure respectively as
follows: Total length, 323, 296, 302; length of tail, 110, 101,
109; length of hind foot, 38, 33, 36. These average, 307, 107, 36.
Tail averages 53 per cent as long as head and body.
Differences in external measurements of the two sexes are: Total
length, 56; length of tail, 39; hind foot, 5.5.
_Externals._--Longest facial vibrissae black, brown or white
(often all three colors in same specimen) and extending beyond
ear; carpal vibrissae same color as underparts and extending to
apical pad of fifth digit; hairiness of foot soles (in summer
pelage) about as shown in figure 19.
_Color._--Winter pelage unknown. Summer pelage with upper parts
near (14 n) Brussels Brown or tone 2 of Raw Umber of Oberthür and
Dauthenay, Pl. 301, darker on top of head from nose to line
connecting posterior margins of ears. Tip of tail always black.
Chin and upper lips white. Remainder of underparts Buff Yellow to
Straw Yellow and rarely Ochraceous Buff. Color of underparts
extends distally on posterior sides of forelegs over toes onto
antipalmar faces of feet and wrists, on medial sides of hind legs
to ankles and over antiplantar faces of toes, medial third of
tarsus, and over proximal fifth to fourth of ventral side of tail.
Least width of color of underparts averaging, in 8 specimens, 44
(29-54) per cent of greatest width of color of upper parts. Black
tip of tail, in four females averaging 35 (33-38) mm. long. Thus,
averaging shorter than hind foot and 32 per cent of length of
tail-vertebrae. Three of the eight specimens before me (no. 242671
from 25 mi. SE Flagstaff, not available at time of this
accounting) have the dark spot near the angle of the mouth faintly
indicated, whereas the other five lack the spots. The color is as
in _M. f. nevadensis_.
_Skull and teeth._--Male (based on 55211, 65231, and 248993; see
p. 422): See measurements and plates 19-21; weight 2.7 and 3.1
grams; basilar length, 40.4; zygomatic breadth more than distance
between condylar foramen and Ml or than between anterior palatine
foramen and anterior margin of tympanic bulla; mastoid breadth
more than postpalatal length; postorbital breadth less than length
of upper premolars and more than width of basioccipital measured
from medial margin of one foramen lacerum posterior to its
opposite; interorbital breadth more or less than distance between
foramen opticum and anterior margin of tympanic bulla; breadth of
rostrum less than length of tympanic bulla; least width of palate
more or less than medial length of P4; anterior margin of tympanic
bulla as far posterior to foramen ovale as width of 3-1/2
(including I3) upper incisors; height of tympanic bulla more than
distance from its anterior margin to foramen ovale; length of
tympanic bulla more than length of lower molar-premolar tooth-row
and longer or shorter than rostrum; anterior margin of masseteric
fossa below talonid of m1.
Female (based on the type specimen): See measurements and plates
31-33; weight, 1.6 grams; basilar length, 35.5; zygomatic breadth
less than distance between condylar foramen and M1 and more than
distance between anterior palatine foramen and anterior margin of
tympanic bulla (nearly equal in each instance); postorbital
breadth less than length of upper premolars and greater (7.1-8.4)
than width of basioccipital measured from medial margin of one
foramen lacerum posterior to its opposite; least width of palate
equal to inside length of P4; tympanic bulla as far posterior to
foramen ovale as width of 3 (including I3) upper incisors; height
of tympanic bulla more than distance from its anterior margin to
foramen ovale; length of tympanic bulla more than length of lower
molar-premolar tooth-row and greater than length of rostrum.
The skull of the female averages 41 per cent lighter than that of
the male.
Compared with the skull of _M. f. nevadensis_, that of _arizonensis_ is
smaller, less heavily ridged and has more inflated tympanic bullae and
a relatively greater mastoid breadth. Comparison with the skull of _M.
f. neomexicana_ is made in the account of that subspecies.
_Remarks._--In 1891 Mearns (234-235) named this weasel as a full
species on the basis of two individuals taken by him in 1886 and 1887.
Since that time only a few additional specimens have been preserved.
Only four are adults. Although this material does not permit of a
definition of the subspecies as precise as could be wished, still, it
clearly shows that the animals from the plateau region of Arizona are
recognizably different from those farther north in the Sierra Nevada of
California and those of the Rocky Mountains and Great Basin region
northward to the Canadian border. These more northern animals have gone
by Mearns' name, _arizonensis_, since the date of its proposal until
1939 when the name _nevadensis_ was proposed.
The smaller size, especially of the skull, and the greater inflation of
the tympanic bullae are the outstanding characters which distinguish
_arizonensis_ from the similarly marked _nevadensis_. The bullae are
relatively much inflated throughout but especially so on the
posteromedial parts.
Although the three adult males and two subadult females available of
this subspecies are smaller in most parts measured than any of the
scores of _nevadensis_ of similar age that have been measured, overlap
in size probably will be found as additional specimens of _arizonensis_
become available. A young female, no. 18513, coll. D. R. Dickey, from
Little Spring, does have certain cranial measurements as large as are
found in the minimum-sized _nevadensis_ from farther north.
Intergradation with the two subspecies whose geographic ranges adjoin
that of _arizonensis_ is indicated by specimens at hand. One of these
is the adult male from 25 miles southeast of Flagstaff, which shows
decided approach to _neomexicana_, in color and in possessing white
facial markings less well developed than in _neomexicana_. Even better
developed white facial markings, with intervening blackish coloration,
are displayed by no. 148271, U. S. Nat. Mus., from 8500 feet altitude
on Willow Creek, New Mexico. This subadult female shows approach to
_neomexicana_ also in larger size of the skull and entire animal. The
great inflation of the posterior part of each of its bullae and the
dark color of the upper parts are characters of _arizonensis_. The
color of the underparts stops at the ankles leaving the hind feet dark
colored, in which respect the specimen is unlike either _neomexicana_
or _arizonensis_. If additional specimens showing the same characters
as this one be found at other nearby localities they probably should be
given recognition as a separate subspecies. For the present it seems
best to regard the specimen merely as an intergrade. Although it might,
with almost equal propriety, be referred to either _neomexicana_ or
_arizonensis_, the specimen is here placed with the latter. The
subadult male from Springerville, Arizona, is of larger size than the
topotypical male of _arizonensis_ and in this respect shows slight
approach to _nevadensis_. The narrower mastoidal breadth and slightly
less inflated tympanic bullae of the male from the Kaibab Plateau may
reflect merely individual variation or may represent intergradation in
these features with _nevadensis_.
The statement made by Merriam (1896:22) that, "The type specimen . . .
is an immature female and is of unusually small size. A male obtained
by him [Mearns] near the same place is of the normal size, as is
another male in the Department collection from Springerville, Ariz.,
collected by E. W. Nelson," needs correction. The female is not
immature. The specimen obtained by Mearns near the same place probably
refers to Amer. Mus. No. 2489, from Quaking Asp Settlement, which lacks
both the skull and external measurements. As stuffed it is of small
size for a male. The male from Springerville, as shown by the external
and cranial measurements, is not of normal (_i. e._ average) size, but
is smaller than the average for the other populations of similarly
colored weasels referred to by Merriam (_op. cit._) as _arizonensis_
but here described under the name _nevadensis_.
None of the skulls shows signs of infestation of the frontal sinuses by
parasites.
_Specimens examined._--Total number, 17, arranged alphabetically
by states and from north to south by counties in each state.
Unless otherwise indicated specimens are in the collection of the
United States National Museum.
=Arizona.= _Coconino County_: VT Park, Kaibab Plateau, 1; Deadman
Flat, 6400 ft., 1[74]; Little Spring, 1[59]; Government Prairie,
near Parks, 1[74]; _Coconino? County_: San Francisco Forest
(Yavapai Co., in 1886), 1[2]; 25 mi. SE Flagstaff, 1; Quaking Asp
Settlement, 1[2]. _Apache County_: Springerville, 1; North Fork
White River, White Mts., 8200 ft., 4[87]; head San Francisco
River, Judd Ranch, Alpine, 1[74]; 2 mi. SE Big Lake Knoll, 8700
ft., 24 mi. S Springerville, 1[74]. _Greenlee County_: S end Blue
Range, 9000 ft., Prieto Plateau, 1; Beaver Creek, 7000 ft., 1[74].
=New Mexico.= _Grant County_: Mogollon Mts., Willow Creek, 8500
ft., 1.
=Mustela frenata nevadensis= Hall
Long-tailed Weasel
Plates 19, 20, 21, 33, 34, 35 and 39
_Mustela frenata nevadensis_ Hall, Carnegie Instit. Washington
Publ. 473:91, November 20, 1936.
_Putorius longicauda_, Coues, Fur-bearing animals, p. 136, 1877
(part); Merriam, N. Amer. Fauna, 5:83, July 30, 1891.
_Putorius (Gale) brasiliensis frenatus_, Coues, Fur-bearing
animals, p. 142, 1877 (part).
_Putorius arizonensis_, Merriam, N. Amer. Fauna, 11:22, figs. 13,
14, June 30, 1896 (part); Stephens, Mammals of California, p.
247, 1906.
_Mustela arizonensis_, Grinnell and Swarth, Univ. California Publ.
Zoöl., 10:376, October 31, 1913; Whitlow and Hall, Univ.
California Publ. Zoöl., 40:247, September 30, 1933.
_Mustela arizonensis arizonensis_, Grinnell, Univ. California Publ.
Zoöl., 40:102, September 26, 1933.
_Mustela frenata_, Boyer, Journ. Mamm., 24:99, February 20, 1943.
_Type._--Female, adult, skull and skin; no. 41053, Mus. Vert.
Zoöl.; three miles east Baker, White Pine County, Nevada; May 30,
1929; obtained by E. R. Hall and W. C. Russell; original no. 2674,
E. R. H.
The skull (plates 33-35) is complete and unbroken. The teeth all
are present and entire. The skin is fairly well made. Eight mammae
are evident and show the animal to have been nursing young.
_Range._--Altitudinally, 700 feet at Wenatchee, Washington, to the
highest parts of the mountains of the western United States; Upper
Sonoran Life-zone to Arctic Alpine Life-zone; southern British
Columbia in the Cascades and territory west to Monashee Mountains,
and Nelson, southward in the Cascades of northern Washington, over
western Washington, Idaho, Utah, and Nevada to northeastern
Arizona and northern New Mexico; westward from the eastern base of
the Rocky Mountains in Colorado to the western base of the Sierra
Nevada and Cascades of California and to the Cascades of southern
Oregon. See figures 29 and 30 on pages 221 and 314.